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Photographs by Kathryn Kirk In photo from left to right: Borough President Markowitz; District Attorney Hynes; Dr. Seeth Vivek, Chair of Psychiatry, Brookdale Hospital; Tony Maffia, Vice President of Psychiatry, Brookdale Hospital; Dr. John Jannes, Psychiatry Department, Brookdale Hospital; and Phoebe Layne, Director of Community Affairs, Brookdale Hospital.

“I want Brooklyn to be number one in almost everything, but not in crime statistics,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. “ East New York is part of the Brooklyn family and Brooklyn can’t be happy until East New York is happy and crime free. My suggestion is that whenever a child has that first brush with the law, a local minister or other clergy should be dispatched to that family to find out what is going on and offer assistance. When young people begin to exhibit anti-social behavior you need to get the houses of worship involved.”

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes concurred with Markowitz, noting that his office has a church-based mentoring program. “The clergy is an essential ingredient in fighting crime,” said Hynes.

On Monday, January 31, Borough President Markowitz and Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham held a meeting at Brookdale Hospital with the NYPD and local community leaders to identify new strategies to combat crime in East New York. District Attorney Hynes and Deputy Chief Albert Girimonte, NYPD Executive Officer of Brooklyn North, joined the Brooklyn North Gang Unit, and representatives from the 75 th, 73 rd and 67 th Precincts. Girimonte and other NYPD officers explained the City’s recent reorganization of the 75th Precinct to enhance crime fighting. Police officers, experts in psychiatry from Brookdale Hospital, community board members, religious leaders, block association members, school officials and P.T.A. presidents discussed ways the community can work together to reduce violence.

“There are two main killers in our society, one is infectious disease, and the other is violence,” said Brookdale Hospital’s Vice President of Psychiatry Tony Maffia.

In January, Mayor Bloomberg announced plans to target crime-plagued areas with extra officers. The East New York program, called “Operation Trident,” divides the 75 th Precinct into 3 enforcement zones — East New York , Cypress Hills and Starrett City.In the last 3 years, crime has decreased 12% in East New York, but the area still has the City’s highest number of homicides, robberies, and assaults.